3.5 Basic Troubleshooting

Reflection:The Internet Lesson Plan was created for my ITEC 7430 Internet Tools for the Classroom course, which I took during summer semester 2014. The purpose of this lesson plan was to create a unit utilizing technology tools to enhance student learning. The unit I created centered around the novel Wonder by R. J. Palacio, which my students were required to read over the summer. The unit was implemented at the beginning of the school year. For this unit, students used digital tools to further explore the book. Activities were designed to help students identify the main idea and key details as well as analyze the characters.When designing the Internet Lesson Plan, I had to give consideration to the possibility that the technology tools I was planning to use would not work properly. I created a section of the lesson plan for troubleshooting various technology problems that may arise. Since most of the tools being utilized for this lesson were web-based, any disruption in our access to the Internet could be problematic. Therefore, I thought of alternative tools we could use that were non-web applications should we lose Internet access. For example, students were writing reflections of the story in our class blog. If we did not have Internet access, students could use the app Notability to type their reflections and post them to the blog at a later time. Another concern when implementing technology is finding some of the devices do not work properly or are not charged when you plan to use them. By having students work with partners, they only needed to use one iPad. That left several iPads available if students had a low battery or difficulty with one of the devices. In addition, there were several activities students were completing using different tools within this unit. These design of the lesson plan allowed some flexibility in the order in which the activities were completed. Therefore, if some students could not use the iPads, they could use the laptops to complete activities.I learned from this artifact that some basic steps can be taken to help prevent issues arising with technology during a lesson. One of the first steps is to test the equipment you plan to use beforehand. This can save class time and allow you to solve problems in advance. In addition, it helps you become more familiar with the equipment you are using before sharing it with your students. I found this step especially helpful when I was implementing this lesson. I was using an iPad to reflect to my laptop, which was mirroring the image onto the Smartboard. There were several connections that I needed to make to set up the equipment properly. By testing these ahead of time, I was able to ensure everything was properly connected when I began implementing the unit. Another basic step to help minimize technology problems during class is to practice using the tools to create the products students will be creating, preferably on one of the devices they will be using. This allows you to plan for error messages or questions that may come up. Finally, I learned that some flexibility is necessary when implementing technology. At some point, things will not go as planned. Even with the best preparation, there will be times that you have to make adjustments to your lesson because something is not working correctly. It is important to view these instances as learning experiences and ones that ultimately make you a better teacher.After implementing this lesson plan with my students in August 2014, I found I wanted to make some changes before using it again. This was my first time using a wiki with my class, which they accessed from their iPads. This turned out to be difficult. They had a hard time manipulating the page to add text and pictures from the iPad. Additionally, when students made changes, they had to reload the page to see the changes, which took a while. I found it was easier to navigate around the wiki using a laptop, and the pages loaded faster when students made changes. Therefore, with future implementations of this lesson plan, I will utilize the laptops for more of the activities, especially those involving the wiki. This artifact impacted student learning. Students were able to better understand what they read by discussing the story with others and reflecting on the book through digital activities. The impact of this could be assessed through conversations with students about the use of digital tools for collaborative learning. This artifact also impacted faculty development because two other teachers implemented some of the unit and used digital tools for these activities. The impact can be assessed through our faculty survey completed at the end of the year about the use of technology tools in the classroom.